The Light | Pr Janaronson Nagarajah

You're listening to a message to go from acts Church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

Today. The Lord wants to remind us that the reason

behind Christmas is Jesus. Jesus is the reason behind Christmas.

And as Christians, let's not be too familiar with Christmas

as well, because sometimes it's easy. You know, when we

grew up in an environment where every year we celebrate Christmas,

and to us Christmas may be just same old, same old,

same old, and same more. But today the Lot wants

to enlarge your capacity to see that this Christmas it

will be different for you and your family. The Lord

is going to give you a revelation about Christmas. As

you were to celebrate Christmas. You will celebrate it not

just as a family gathering, not just as a church gathering,

but you celebrate it in your heart, knowing that because

of Jesus there is hope, that because of Jesus there

is light for your situation. That because of Jesus there

is the gift of Salvasian if you believe it's say amen.

So the topic that I have for us this morning

is the light every time I come to Samonie, the

extreme worship team is very prophetic because if you listen

to the first two songs, it speaks about the light

speak singing it a song in the that's a night

pushing back darkness with heavenly light. It's such an amazing

confirmation that every time I come to Simniae, the song

just confirms God's word for us this morning. I really

believe that He has something awesome for all of you

this morning. If you were to open your heart and

believe that He has a word for you, you know

sense of God's heart fur us this morning. His heart

is just for you. He wants you to know that

He loves you. He wants you to know that He

cares for you. That today, as you get it together,

even as for those who are serving, or even for

those of you who are worshiping together with us, do

not let this moment pass you by, because if your

heart were to be open, your ears were to be open,

you will hear from the Lord. So while we are

here in his presence, don't let this moment passes by.

Don't be distracted on what is going in our hearts.

Don't be destricted by what is happening around us, but

the tune into the Holy Spirit. I allow him to

speak to you. Amen, John three sixteen. If you have

your Bible, you can turn to John three eachapter sixteen.

We're going to read from Versus sixteen to twenty one.

He says here, for God so loved the world that

he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in

him should not perish but have ever lasting life. You

know where I read the Bible. I would try to

personalize the Bible as well, to make it more and riching.

Sometimes I read it for God so loved Ronson that

he gave his only begotten son, that when Ronson believes

in him, he should not perish, but have everlasting life.

When the Bible says for God so loved the world,

it also means he loves you. Turn to your neighbor

and say God loves you. To the person on the left,

the person on the right, say confidently that God loves you.

What something says For God did not send his son

into the world to condemn the world. The world true

him might be safe. Sorry, proclaim that Jesus is our

Lord and our savior. What a Jesus saved us from

from the penalty of sin. Jesus saves us from eternal

condemnation so that we can have everlasting life. Was eighteen.

He who believes in him is not condemned, But he

who does not believe is condemned already because he has

not believed in the name of the only begoden son

of God. And this is the condemnation. That the light

has come into the world. And man loved darkness rather

than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing

evil hates the light and does not come to the

light lest his deeds should be exposed. The light reveals

the light will illuminate darkness. Light also speaks about hope.

When you're trapped in a situation where there's darkness surrounding you,

all that you're looking for is a light. When you're

trapped in a dark room, if you do not have

your phone, you look for the light switch because you

know when you turn on the light, it illuminates the

darkness around you and you can see. But what about

say is that man loves wackedness. Men don't want to

come to God's light lest they be exposed. And it

is still true for today in a world that believe.

In verse twenty one, But he who does the truth

comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly

seen that they have been done in God. This coming

Christmas will be my twentyeth Christmas. I came to know

the Lord when I was twenty years twenty years old

as a second year campus student, and the Lord has

radically saved me, transformed my life. I grew up knowing

that there is a God, but I never really knew

about Jesus. And I grew up knowing that, you know,

as long as I'm good, God will love me anyway.

God will accept me for who I am. So I

believe in good works. And most of you know my

testimony that I encountered God during my dad's week service.

I had a supernatural encounter with Him, shared my encounter

with my sister, and my sister led me to Christ

right in my bedroom and tend me to fall. So

for the first twenty years of my life, I knew

exactly what it meant to be living in darkness because

prior to coming to know the Lord, prior to surrendering

my heart fully to Jesus, you know, my life was

pretty much purposeless. There's no aim to strive for, there's

no meaning. I believe in astrology. I believe in horoscope.

You know, back then we will always read the newspaper.

You guys know what the newspaper is, right, Okay, because

this is to what he reads the newspaper anyway. So

back then there is a section in the newspaper. You

will have the comics section. I'll read Garfield, I'll read

Keys World, read all the comics. Don't know what.

Uh.

Then there's always that section called scope, right. So I

believe in that. I believe in zodiac signs as well,

and I live that that life. But you know what,

despite believing all these things, I still live a life

where it's empty. It's empty. You know, when you live

a life where you know it's empty, you can deceive

people around you, but you know, deep down inside you're

just empty. There's no joy, there's no peace, there's no direction.

So I felt that I was living in darkness. And

the thought of living in darkness can be very haunting

at times because darkness often is associated with fear. And

a lot has revealed to me that this morning perhaps

servests we are living in fear, and he's asking you

today to come into his light, because in his light

there's no shadows in his light, there's no darkness in

his light, there's no fear. I gave my heart to Jesus,

And when I was growing up in the faith, I

needed to wrestle with a lot of condemnation in my

heart because me and my dad we never really had

a good closure before his passing. He died at the

age of fifty six. He died an alcoholic, He died

because of liver failure. So when he passed away at

a very sudden state, I never really had a good

closure with him. In fact, the night before his passing,

the falling afternoon, we were never really in good talking terms.

So I never really had the opportunity to express to

my dad about how I feel about him. And when

I was growing up as a Christian, I suffered a

lot of condemnation, love regret, like, ah, I should I've

treated my dad better. Now I don't have an opportunity

to treat him well. And literally, when I sleep, I

will have night mass, and the nightmass are really dark,

a really dark. It was so dark that when I

wake up in the middle of nine or sometimes in

the middle of the afternoon, like most of you do.

You know, after church you'll sleep in the afternoon. Even

in the afternoon, I will have night mass. And I

had no way out. But all that I knew was

I need to cry to Jesus, struggling in guilt, struggling condemnation,

as though there was no light out. But Lord, in

his mercy, one day gave me a dream. In a dream,

I saw very, very dark clouds surrounding me. It was

so dark that it soon became a demonic activity. I

saw a demonic figure, I heard a demonic voice in

my dream, and I knew immediately it was something spiritual.

And soon at the right came piercing a light, a

light so bright, brighter than the florescent lights that you

can see in And soon I saw a shining figure,

and ebently I knew it was Jesus himself. So when

light comes in darkness, will have no choice but to dissipate.

And I saw the Lord. And ever since that day,

the Lord delivered me in clos Swan Verse, chapter one,

verses thirteen fourteen, he has delivered us from the power

of darkness, and come wait us into the kingdom of

the Sun of his Love, in whom we have redemption

through his blood. The forgiveness of sins. The power of

darkness is very real, friends, and many of our friends

and family are still struggling because the power of darkness

is having a grip upon their life. And sometimes, as Christians,

if we do not walk in the light, that will

mean we are walking in darkness. You cannot be neutral

about this, even if you think you're neutral, you are

actually walking in darkness. Why because often darkness can also

come in a form of false light, and there is deceit.

So this Christmas, I will make it a point to

reflect and remember about my own journey with the Lord.

How at one point I was lost without hope, living

in darkness. Yet because of God's mercy, because of his grace,

he revealed to me that we are all saved by

Grace's true faith in Jesus. It can not be by

our good works, because if it is by our good

works that we obtain saluation, we will boast that it

is because of us. Never it is because of His grace,

Meaning we don't deserve the gift of saluation, but God

chose to give it to us, and all that we

need to do is to receive it by faith. Saluation

is by Grace true faith in Jesus. Let's not forget

that that is the word of God. I do not

care what the world will tell me, but what I

care is what God's word is telling us. So Christmas

is a time where we will celebrate God's light in Jesus.

And this coming week will be significant for me in

the marketplace because for the very first time afterwards for

sixteen years, I'll be organizing a Christmas care role in

my workplace. So we will be singing in the university

walkway for you, proclaiming carols and hopefully you know, through

singing of carols, people will come to know the true

meaning of Christmas. That Christmas essentially is never about center,

but it's about the savior of the world that God

has given us. And this coming Thursday, I'll be putting

together a Christmas celebration as well in my workplace. I

want us to know that Christmas it is a good

time to share about Jesus. That as Christians, we should

learn to not just celebrate the meaning of Christmas, but

to share the meaning of Christmas because there are many

people out there who needs to come to know Jesus.

We all know this a void in our hearts that

nobody can feel except Jesus himself. So as Christians, you

have that responsibility to share the good news, to bring

that light to your community. Because Christmas is a celebration

of God sending his light Jesus into the world to

eliminate the world into righteousness. There's a slight for that.

The world that we live in today is getting darker

and darker. Morality is on the decay. You look around you,

you know, you look at your Instagram, you look at

your social media TikTok. A lot of people are leaning

away from God. Some are living as though there is

no God. And Jesus has already foretold this that the

world we lived in will be getting darker and darker.

But in Christ, as long as we live in the light,

there is always that hope. There is always that hope.

Isaiah nine two says, the people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the

land of the shadow of death upon them a light

has shined. This is a prophet Isaiah prophesizing about the

coming of Jesus. Between a time where Isaiah lived to

the Gospel is probably about seven hundred years. I mean

seven hundred years before Jesus was born, before Jesus walked

among men, it was already foretold that the people who

walked in darkness, I've seen a great light. Those who

dwelt in the land of the shadow of death upon them,

a light has shined. We know that the last book

in the Bible is the Book of Malachi. In the

Old Testament, the last one in the Bible is Revelation.

Same was just giving him this there like, okay. The

last one in the Old Testament is the Book of Malachi.

All right. Between the Book of Malachi and the Gospel

there is a span of probably about four hundred years.

These years are known as the silent yeares okay, which

means in that four hundred years God did not raise

a prophet to speak, and the land was dark. Back then,

the Israelites were under the Roman Empire as well, and

it was a very depressing state. In Malachi, chapter three

was one it says, behold, I send my messenger, and

he will prepare the way before me. This line basically

speaks about the prophecy of John the Baptist. As you

read in the beginning of the Gospel, John the Baptist

was in the wilderness, claiming the way of the Lord. Okay,

and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to

his temple. Even the Messenger of the Covenant in whom

you delight, behold, he is coming, says a lot of hosts.

The Messenger of the Covenant in whom you delight basically

speaks about the Lord. So before God went silent for

four hundred years, it was already foretold in the book

of Malachi there will be two characters coming up, John

the Baptist and the Messiah. In Malachi chapter four was two.

But to you who fear my name, the Sun of righteousness,

take note, it's not as old end. This is as

u And the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing

in his wings, and you shall go out and grow

fat like stall fat cough. The Sun of righteousness. The

sun gives light, the sun gives life. So it has

already been foretold in the Old Testament that Jesus is

likened to the light that will come at a point

of darkness. But God remained silent for four hundred years. However,

you think that there is a very long time, very

long time, right, So in the time of darkness, and

when hope seems lost. What should we do when God

is silent? When can we see his light? How review

you're in a situation where God is silent. You're entering

a time of prayer, he seems silent. You come to church,

he seems silent. You read the Bible, although you're reading

the word of God, but you know in your heart

he seemed. God remains silent for four hundred years because

He really told the people all that he needed to

told them in the Old Testament. All they need to

do is just to have faith, believe and wait. I

just came back from my personal breit. I went to

Podison Methody Center. You've been there before, Poddison Methodical Center.

It's an amazing place. Right in the month of October

ax Neeli, we had our Kneelight get away there for

three days tonight our very first church camp there. And

I felt drawn to that place, and the Lord is

asking me to go back to seek him there. So

I sought the lot and I passed two days there

and my own capacity. But you know what I found.

The Lot was silent. I drove out a way there,

I prayed, I ran the Gospel of mark, and because

it was also in a season in my life where

for my personal life or my ministry I needed direction

from the Lot. I needed to have like that answer

from the Lot. And now the third day, it's just

I caught nothing. Basically, I caught nothing. However, you have

been in that place before where you entered no prayer

and then no fast day, then you came out with nothing. Right,

so yesterday was my last day. I really caught nothing.

And then the Lord revealed to me three things that

when he is silent. There are three things that you

can do while he is silent. First one, trust in God.

You have to be in the right relationship with God.

You got to trust him. And by trusting God, essentially

it also means you've got to be familiar with his voice.

You got to be familiar with how he speaks to you.

You got to be familiar with your scriptures. Jeremiah seventeen,

verse seven to eight says, blessed is the man who

trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.

For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,

which spreads out its roots by the rear, and will

not fear when he comes, but his leave will be

green and will not be anxious in the year of goft,

nor will cease from yielding fruit. Trusting God may seem

difficult in a time when help is not near. Trusting

God may seems difficult when you're nearing the dateline and

you don't see a sign of deliverance. But trusting God

should be one of the only things you should do.

When God is silent, it doesn't mean he doesn't care

for you. Sometimes God is silent because He knows you

already have it in you to know what it takes

to trust him. Don't give up because God's timing is

always perfect. You can trust God when you know his word.

Trust in his word you know. We always say that

Christianity is not just a religion. Christianity essentially is a

relationship because when you pray to God, God hears you,

and you hear from God. Everyone has the capacity to

hear from God. It doesn't take a prophet, pastor teacher

just to hear from God. He takes ordinary men and

people who have faith to be able to hear from God.

Because each and every one of you is special. You

are special in a lot. A lot wants his voice

to be revealed to you. But you must come to

Him by faith, knowing that He loves you, knowing that

He has a plan for you, and that He is

not done with you yet. Know how young, how mature

you think you are, as long as you're on earth,

you will always have a plan from God. So learn

to seek him, learn to hear his voice, learn to

set aside time to draw near to him. Because God

can be trusted, He can be trusted. The goodness of

God doesn't change regardless of the outcome of what you

are hoping for. I lost my dad when I was

twenty years old. As I said earlier, to many, it

may feel like it's a tragedy some how could God

allow it to happen. But to me who trusts God,

God will always, always, always turn things around for his glory,

and I gotta trust his nature because some questions in

life I may never have the answer. So instead of

just pursuing the answer, I would rather pursue God because

some of us we are wrestling for an answer from God.

We are asking God why, And it is that very

question it is stopping you from progressing forward. The Lord

wants you to trust in Him. Yes, knowing the answer

may be important. Maybe in his time he will reveal

to you. But at the time when if he choose

to not to reveal to you, will you still trust him.

God turned my family around. He made beauty out of ashes,

out of the death of one man. My dad I

came to know the Lord, my mom came to know

the Lord. My brother rededicated his life. Amen. So there

are certain things we don't know why it happened. We

may never know. That's why trusting God requires faith. Second

is hope in God. Stay resilient in your faith. A

faith not worth fighting for is a faith not worth keeping,

Because if you take your faith in the Lord seriously,

you've got to do what it takes to fight for

your faith. And often it's not fighting the people around you.

Is fighting your own doubt. It's fighting your own unbelief.

Is fighting your own discouragement, fighting your own disappointment, fighting

your own fear, so that you can keep your faith

in the Lord. You, guys, we have heard this before.

In Christ. You can smile at the storm in the

darkest time. You can always hope. But it takes resilience

to be able to hope. It's not easy to hope

for something that you haven't seen yet. It's not easy

to hope when others around you asked you to give

up Romans Chapter five, Versus one to five. Therefore, having

been justified by faith, we have peas with God through

our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have accessed

by faith into disgrace, in which we stand and rejoice

in hope of the glory of God. And not only that,

we also glory in tribulations. So sometimes God doesn't take

tribulations from you, but you can glory in tribulations, knowing

that tribulations produces perseverance, and perseverance correct and character. Hope, Now, hope,

that's not disappoint because the love of God has been

pour out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who

was given to us. When I read this scripture, I

like verse five where they say, is hope that's not

disappoint because the love of God has been pour out

in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has given

to us. You know, you and I may go through

different challenges in life. My challenges may be different from yours,

but one thing remain as a truth, that you and

I have the Spirit of God in you the Holy Spirit,

our helper. Many of us, we could not have been

standing today had not been by the help of the

Holy Spirit. Even this Sunday, Savia may find it difficult

to wake up, to come, even to serve because of

different things you are going through. There might be a

turmoil in your hearts and in your spirit. But the

fact that you are here serving it doesn't say that

you're a hypocrite, you know. He says that the Spirit

is at work in you so that you remain resilient,

knowing to put who first, that is Christ. So the

Holy Spirit will help you to hope. Don't give up,

don't give up. Last point for today, believe in God's word.

We've gotta have reverence. We've got to revere his word.

God's word can never feel his timing is perfect. When

God is silent, you can fall on his written width.

You know, when I was a young Christian, in my

first year in the faith, second year in the faith,

growing in the Lord, the Lord was very, very real

to me when I read the Bible. It's as though

he was speaking directly to me. I had dreams, I

have different supernatural encounters with the Lot. But now I'm

twenty years old in the Lord, this thing seems to

be once a while, and the lot just reminds me

at the end of the day. When we grow in

the faith, it's never about hearing that voice audibly or

seeing supernatural signs that if you do this means He

loves you. The more you grow in a faith, the

more you should walk by faith knowing that it's never

about signs, wonders and miracles. It's always about His word.

Maybe when I was young in the faith, I needed

to have that boost from the Lord. The Lord needed

to give me that experience. But as we grow older, friends,

everything has been recorded in the Bible. If you ever

doubt whether God loves you, you can read from Isaiah

to the Gospel how the Lord loves you. If you

ever doubt if you're in an impossible situation, whether the

Lord will see you through, think about the Book of Exodus,

how he delivered his people out of Egypt, how he

parted that rate sea so that his people can walk

on dry land. If you ever doubt whether the Lord

can provide for you, think about the years in the

wilderness the Lord provided for his people that for forty

years they were well fed. For forty years their shoe.

Man back then don't have shoe, Their sandals didn't warn out.

You can always fall back on God's word. Marriage Turing

four to three I five says heaven and earth will

pass away, My words will by no means passed away.

You can find joy in reading God's word. You can

find comfort in reading his word. It's not all doom

and gloom. When you have God's word in you. His

word is like a lamb onto my feet, a light

onto my path. So when God is silent, he is

preparing you to use what you have already learned. So

of you, you're in a situation where I can confidently

let you know right now it is a test from

the Lord because you already have learned what you needed

to learn. Now is the time to apply what you learn,

because the Lord is showing me. If you were to

apply is worked into your situation, that's when your breakthrough

will come. Maybe it's someone that you need to walk

up to and say, brother and sister, I know I

have heard you. Can you forgive me? Because the key

to being set free from the chains of unforgiveness is

to release forgiveness. Maybe for service who are waiting for provision.

The Lord is challenging you to give. Perhaps when you give,

it is the very thing that will unlock the provision

to come true. For you apply that wh should already know,

and by faith do it. So I find it amazing

that in the time of the Gospel you have a

couple of people, some who saw the Lord as how

the Old Testament described him to be. They're able to

see Jesus as the Messiah, but the scribes, the religious

teachers couldn't see Jesus for who he is, that is

the Messiah. And the reason why they can't see is

because their heart was hardened. The hardenedness of their heart

has blind their eyes. And before I end today, I

just want to encourage us saying that our heart should

always remain soft before God. The day our hearts are

hardened is the day where we will be blind to Him.

That's why many people cannot see God because their heart

is hardened towards Him. When you submit your heart to Him,

when you allow your heart to be softened by Him,

that's when you can see him. Amen. So he is

the light. He will illuminate your darkness. Amen. Or do

you stand as I close? Thank you Jesus.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

information on our church, please visit as church org. We

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this week is going to be a good week, a

hit for you. God bless